Big Daddy

Dear Big Daddy,
Speaking of Arnold and the love child, what’s with Gloria Allred?
–Suspicious in San Dimas

Dear Suspicious,
Good politicians latch on to a big story and pop up at critical moments to grab the limelight. This is how it is done – or should be done. So when activist lawyer Gloria Allred pops up to defend the downtrodden, the big story can’t be far behind.

The buzz for days in the Capitol has been that the baby Schwarzenegger sired by his former housekeeper may not be the only love child in the Sperminator’s past and that Allred may have the straight skinny.

Naturally, nobody has one scintilla of evidence to back up the claim – including me – and those who know aren’t saying. But that doesn’t stop the speculation from enfolding the dome like a cloud. It doesn’t stop scribblers or politicians from speculating either, because that’s what they do best.

That’s the beautiful thing about the Capitol rumor mill – truth is irrelevant. Of course, a kernel of truth propels run-of-the-mill gossip into the major leagues. And once the gossip takes hold, it slowly becomes plausible and then becomes an accepted fact, like those alligators in the New York City sewers.

As in war, truth is the first casualty of politics.

So, I have no idea whether Allred will pop out with a raft of clients and, amid the glare of TV cameras, and lay out a case for more of Schwarzenegger’s transgressions. Of course, the real victims here are the children, who have no say-so over their parents’ choice of mates. But I don’t care about children until they turn 18 and can vote.

But Allred smacked Meg Whitman – remember here? – during last year’s campaign for governor with the report that Whitman knowingly had employed an illegal immigrant. That’s pretty tame compared to Arnold’s current dilemma.

That hit carried a political dimension and was aimed at blocking Whitman’s election. It worked well, too.

But Schwarzenegger isn’t running for anything and faced the demise of his political career – no, Obama wasn’t going to name him an environmental adviser at large – even before this latest scandal broke.

 But if there are other love children out there, and Allred does indeed bring them forward, it will give a story that has legs even more legs.  

Allred reportedly represents Gigi Jeffers, a former actress on “Little House on the Prairie,” who said she slept with Arnold when she was a teenager.

Allred, talking to the Chronicle, wouldn’t confirm whether Jeffers is contemplating legal action and said she would not identify other women who have consulted with her on the scandal.

“Nothing would surprise me at this point…(Schwarzenegger) does appear to have a pattern of deception with his wife, with his children, with the taxpayers and the people of California who elected him.’’

I’m shocked, shocked that such a thing could happen in Sacramento.